Turkey: Death Penalty

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Wednesday 12th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, said that our influence in Turkey,

“is directly related to our ability to gain access to the highest levels”.—[Official Report, 2/3/17; col. 949.]

She was of course referring to the Prime Minister’s visit in January. Does the noble Baroness agree that we need to gain access to the highest levels, and will she reflect on her comment, in that perhaps dashing Turkey’s hopes and aspirations of EU membership is causing a lot of these problems we now face?

[Baroness Goldie]

I am not sure that I totally understand the latter part of the noble Lord’s question. In principle, the United Kingdom Government have been supportive of Turkey’s accession to the EU. My earlier comments were in specific—

[Lord Collins of Highbury]

By leaving the EU—

[Baroness Goldie]

By leaving the EU we enter a new world with new opportunities. However, as I indicated to the noble Baroness on the Liberal Democrat Benches, if our Prime Minister, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom—whether we are in or out of the EU—can raise with the President of Turkey a fundamental issue of vital importance like the detention of Idil Eser, that is exercising clout and influence where it matters.